Los Angeles Times' George Skelton: "The Wild West days of an uncontrolled internet should be history."

April 12, 2018

It's not just the marketing of political candidates that personal data is used for, of course. It's also employed to market shoes, TV sets, cars, you name it. Companies glean information about your hobbies, age, children, residence, religion, gender and sexual orientation. And they use it to target ads at specific groups.

There's nothing new in this. But with technology, the data is a lot easier to collect. It also can be used for anything, including scary stuff.

It's all very complex. But the basics are simple: The internet is collecting personal data on people, unbeknownst to them, and spreading it around for big profit. People are becoming more aware of that and starting to demand protection. It seems a timely intersection of one person's crusade and the public's desire.

The internet is no longer the infant that needed freedom to innovate and grow unregulated, if it ever was. It has grown into a monster and now needs to be restricted — like the railroads at the turn of the last century and financial institutions during the Great Depression.

"We're taking on the richest, most powerful industry that the world has ever seen," says Mactaggart, 51, of Piedmont in Alameda County. "Standard Oil was powerful, but they didn't know everything about you."

Mactaggart's initiative would affect companies that earn at least $50 million a year and derive half their annual revenue by peddling personal information.

Consumers would have the right to learn what info is collected. They'd need to be told whether it was disseminated and to whom. They could tell the companies to stop selling or sharing it. They couldn't be charged more for internet service if they opted out. And they could sue if they were ignored.

Mactaggart must collect 365,880 voter signatures by June 18 to qualify the initiative for the November ballot. He's the sole financer so far, putting up $2 million-plus.

Tech companies are expected to spend tens of millions fighting the measure if it qualifies. So far they've put up $1 million — $200,000 each from Facebook, Google, AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.

After its hammering by the congressional committees, however, Facebook announced Wednesday that it wouldn't contribute more money to the opposition campaign. The company said it wants to focus "on supporting reasonable privacy measures in California."

That sounds like it might be looking for a legislative compromise — something the rest of the tech industry has shown no interest in.

"We've got all our resources focused on the ballot measure," says Robert Callahan, vice president of government affairs for the Internet Assn. "This is very much a 'gotcha' initiative. It's unworkable. It would strangle the ability of companies to innovate."

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Paid for by Californians for Consumer Privacy. Committee major funding by Alastair Mactaggart.